Last Friday, I had the pleasure of speaking with Secretary Ivan Uy of the Department of Information and Communications Technology or DICT for our program AGENDA on Cignal TV and I came to the conclusion that President Bongbong Marcos certainly has the right man for the job, but the question is, will PBBM make the extra effort to ensure that Sec. Ivan Uy and the DICT get the necessary cover in terms of legislation and budgets in order to achieve the marching orders set by the President?
Anyone who reviews the performance and history of the DICT during the Duterte administration will eventually realize that the political will of Duterte never manifested its force or impact at the DICT. There were a lot of intramurals, bickering, demolition jobs internally and even more politicking and obstruction externally in terms of the DICT being able to implement essential projects. From Congress down to the barangays, somebody was always putting their finger in the pie, hoping to lick some of the icing from the cake, so to speak. While telcos have found relief from our courts regarding obstructionists and local government extortionists, the process still involves too much time and too much money and lawyering to the point that there is no incentive for telcos to increase their investments and coverage.
By comparison, PBBM is more familiar with the digital world and requirements and has laid down his expectations, but in order to get what he wants he will have to work with Sen. Migz Zubiri and Cong. Martin Romualdez to roll out the necessary legislation to exempt DICT-related projects from interference of local politicians and revise antiquated laws. Unless he does so, PBBM’s expectations will be nothing more than a wish list.
According to Sec. Uy, a couple of our institutions are very legalistic or rely on guidelines set by laws crafted in the 1970s if not older, when communications was through telegrams or tele-fax, etc. This requires an urgent review and rewrite in order to make the rule book up to date in terms of current business practices, government policies as well as technology. For instance, the Civil Service Commission has to undertake an immediate study of competitive salaries for information technology experts.
It is common knowledge that the salaries currently allowed under the CSC code is the primary reason IT experts never consider working for the government. The pay is dirt cheap for services that are highly profitable and beneficial in any sector or open market. It is no different from our nurses who immediately choose to work abroad simply because the compensation and benefits in government hospitals abroad is so much higher and recognizes the value of their services. IT experts are highly sought after abroad, especially those who specializes in “coding” – cybersecurity – data analytics and AI or artificial intelligence. Presidents keep giving salary increases and added benefits to law enforcers and military personnel, which is all good, but if we want to get this country off on the right foot, we need the right people on board at the DICT. Aside from higher compensation, we need to invest in developing our next generation of IT experts by developing more advanced educational programs and not diploma mills or profit driven institutions that roll out “IT” graduates like pan de sal.
The Commission on Audit through no fault of its own has to impose what archaic laws require in terms of partnership agreements, lease, rentals, etc. As a result, practices such as joint venture or ex-deals done regularly in the private sector take months or years to work out with the government. If the Philippines wants to fast track the construction of cell sites and WiFi in every barangay, it can be done easily because the government has all the land at every ideal point for construction. But the legalese and paperwork remain the roadblock. Sec. Uy did mention that a partnership, where telcos get to construct cell sites rent free on government land, was possible if the telcos offered a specific frequency for exclusive use of the government as an education channel similar to the Public Broadcast System of the United States. But again, that all depends on what the antiquated rules or laws dictate.
Sec. Uy also affirmed the need for Congress and the Senate to pass a bill that would exempt any and all telecoms projects such as construction and operations of cell sites etc., from local government regulation. It would be equivalent to declaring the entire country open to unimpeded construction of our national information and communications technology network which I likened to the spinal column or central nervous system of the Philippine economy. By adopting the “open city” approach the system can be put up in a matter of two to three years, which is the amount of time we need to develop and train government frontliners towards the digitalization of transactions and payment of government fees.
The truth of the matter is that digitalization and computerization are the most hated advancements among corrupt civil servants. I have heard several cases or incidents where computerization was sabotaged, intentionally complicated or delayed because corrupt people inside government know that computerization will create a trail and footprint of their illegal activities. Meanwhile, many frontline agencies that have a lot of cash flow because of daily transactions continue to resist online digital payments because it cuts them out of the deal between the citizen and the government and weeds out fixers, illegal brokers, etc.
President Bongbong Marcos needs to keep his eye on this ball because it gives him an opportunity for a quick fix, recognizable accomplishment and, if the DICT succeeds in developing the network, then it becomes the platform where every program and project of PBBM can “travel” on. It will be PBBM’s digital highway.